Communication networks are growing in number and complexity. Data centers that house network elements have likewise grown increasingly large and complex. With this growing complexity, it can be difficult for network administrators to maintain accurate records regarding the physical locations of assets within a communication network. In many cases, the physical location of network assets is tracked manually, with significant opportunities for errors or omissions.
This can lead to many problems for network administrators and technicians. It is possible for an administrator or technician to know where a fault is within a network based on the logical network topology, but not to know exactly where in a particular building the fault is located. More particularly, it is possible in some network management systems to know that a server connected to a particular switch port is experiencing a fault, but if the physical location records are not accurate, it may take a significant amount of work to actually determine the physical location of the faulty server.
The lack of information regarding physical location of assets can also cause problems with network growth planning. For example, a network administrator or technician may have little idea of how much free space, connectivity, thermal capacity, power capacity, or functioning physical layer is available in cabinets in a data center without undertaking a significant effort in manually mapping out the location of network assets and related physical layer infrastructure elements on a cabinet-by-cabinet basis.
Another challenge encountered in expansion planning is a lack of knowledge about the physical environment where expansion is desirable or necessary. For example, an administrator may know that rack space is available for installation of a new group of servers. But the administrator may have little to no information about the impact that adding a server group will have on the power consumption, heat generation, structural cabling, power capacity, weight, security, or grounding in a cabinet or area of a data center. In some cases, this could necessitate an engineering review that will add expense and delay to network expansion projects. In addition, the lack of important information inhibits automation since the physical representation of a network may not be reconciled with the logical connections within the network.
It is desirable to have a system that addresses the problems listed above by automatically acquiring and tracking physical location information regarding network assets and by providing physical layer infrastructure data and other environmental information regarding network installations.